Marine sensors for measuring water depth, boat speed, temperature, and the like, are available in the marketplace for amateur and professional boatsmen. These sensors may measure one, or any combination of speed, depth, and temperature. Sensors illustrative of this type are sold by the Airmar Technology Corporation of Amherst, N.H. The sensors themselves are precision electronic devices and, while not delicate per se, they can be damaged if stuck by a floating or submerged object since they are normally positioned on the exterior of the hull of a boat. Frequently, the sensor is secured to the transom of the boat and is positioned to project slightly below the bottom to be certain that it is in a stream of bubble-free water, or water which is free of aeration, moving relative to the hull. Such sensors have particular utility on relatively high speed boats, i.e., those going from 30 to 70 miles an hour. With a boat going at such speed, striking a floating or submerged object could damage such an sensor.
Accordingly, one of the objects of this invention is to provide means for mounting such sensors on boats wherein they will release if they are struck by an object.
When a boat is traveling at high speed, if the sensor is struck by an object and knocked out of operating position, it is not always possible to reset the sensor in the operative position while the boat is traveling.
Accordingly, another object of this invention is to provide a marine sensor mounting mechanism which will not only permit the sensor to release from its operative position if struck by a waterborne object, but to reset itself to such position automatically after contact.
The force with which an object can strike a boat or the marine sensor attached to it is a function of the speed of the boat, the faster the speed, the harder the contact. At higher speeds, the release mechanism must maintain the sensor in its operative position with a greater degree of force than when the boat is going at a lower speed.
Accordingly, another object of this invention is to provide means for maintaining the marine sensor in its operative position while, at the same time, making it releasable to impact and resetable to the operative position after impact with means for adjusting the yield force holding the sensor in operative position as a function of the top speed capacity of the boat. During the launching and hauling of a boat whether by cradle or traveling hoist, the sensor is exposed to damage when in the operative position. The same is true when beaching a boat or when placed on racks in sheds for the winter.
Furthermore, when a boat is towed on a trailer, if the sensor is in the operative position, it can pick up road film and tar which impairs subsequent wetability if not cleaned off.
Accordingly, still another object of this invention is to provide marine sensor mounting mechanism which may easily be manually operated to reposition the sensor from the operative to an inoperative storage position.
The above and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular marine sensor mounting mechanism embodying the invention is shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in varied and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.